


By Your Side

by Dain



Category: In the Flesh (TV)
Genre: F/F, Homophobia, Internalized Homophobia, Pre-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-10
Updated: 2014-06-10
Packaged: 2018-02-04 04:19:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1765213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dain/pseuds/Dain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jem and Lisa didn't know each other very well before the war, but foxholes have a way of bringing people together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	By Your Side

**Author's Note:**

> This is pretty general and short, but I'd love to write a longer, more involved version someday. We'll see how much time I have over the summer, I suppose.

Lisa Lancaster joined the HVF the same year Jem did; that first year, when all they had to cling to was _shoot ‘em in the head_. Jem had been expecting more resistance from her parents, but with Dad still barely talking and Mum not quite accepting the reality of the situation just yet, there wasn’t much of a fight.

In the early days, they’d just been a ragtag group of anyone who could hold a gun or was willing to learn. Bill Macy knew what he was doing, at least, and that was a relief, although Jem vaguely remembered that Kier had never liked him. Whatever the reason had been, it didn’t matter now.

Lisa and Jem learned to fight side-by-side. They’d never really spoken to each other before, outside of the occasional group project they had to do together in school, but they found an easy sort of camaraderie in the face of – of – well, it was a _zombie apocalypse_ , really, as ridiculous as it sounded. Just like in the movies.

The two of them mostly did border patrol, sometimes with Gary, one of Kier’s old mates from school, sometimes with Dani-the-cool-one, sometimes by themselves. They quickly learned to have the other’s back, and to trust that she would do the same, because when you got in the thick of things you could only focus on so much at a time.

***

“Christ, Jem, there’s another one!”

“I _know_ , Lis, I see it! Doesn’t change the fact that my gun’s jammed!”

“Well, get it unjammed or I’ll let them eat you!”

Shoot ‘em in the head. Easy enough, right? Easy enough, unless there are six – six! – of those things circled around you and only one of you has a gun because your bloody stupid thing decided to jam.

Jem let out a cry of frustration and fear as the nearest rotter reached for her, lashing out with her gun like a club as the ring continued to tighten. “Lis!”

The duo turned in synchronization, Lisa firing before she even had her feet firmly planted, and Jem heard the bullet make contact. Hard to miss a shot that close. There were two other rotters on the ground near where Lisa had just been standing; that was already three down. They had a chance, they definitely –

Lisa screamed. Jem whirled around, heart pattering.

One of them had got her, somehow; her gun was on the ground and the thing was clutching at her arms, drawing her closer, opening its mouth –

***

Jem held Lisa’s hand while Dani patched up the wounded shoulder. The three of them were sitting in front of Bill’s house, trying not to listen to him and Gary yelling at each other inside.

“It’ll be okay,” Jem assured her, squeezing her hand a little tighter. “You’ll see. You remember what they said on the telly, right? It’s not actually infectious. You’ll just have to rest while – ”

“For God’s sake, she’s _fifteen_!” Gary’s voice interrupted her and they fell silent.

The argument inside returned to its barely audible state, but the three girls still sat stock-still, forgetting that they didn’t want to hear.

“There you go,” Dani said eventually, breaking the tension. “You should be all set.” She offered up a wavering smile that Lisa was only just able to return.

The bitten girl rested her head on Jem’s shoulder and adjusted her grip on her hand. “I don’t want to be a rotter,” she murmured, moving their joined hands together back and forth across Jem’s lap in a pendulum motion.

“You won’t be,” Jem assured her. After a moment of hesitation – was this too intimate? – she rested her free hand on Lisa’s head, gently stroking her hair. “You’re gonna – ”

The door banged open and the two girls jumped apart. “We have to quarantine you,” Gary said gruffly. “Just as a precaution.”

“Gary!” Jem exclaimed, at the same time Dani made a huffing noise, as if she wasn’t really surprised but wasn’t happy about it, either. “You know nothing’s going to happen! She’s fine!”

Gary shot her a glare. “It’s just a precaution, I said. And it’s only going to be for three days.”

***

Three days. Three days, living in a _basketball court_. Jesus.

Jem couldn’t get away until nightfall, but once she’d told her parents she still had some things to tie up and wouldn’t be home until later she headed for the cage.

“Stole the key,” she explained with a grin as she slipped inside. “They won’t notice.”

“Jem, you’re going to get us both in trouble,” Lisa said, but she was grinning back.

“I brought you some blankets and food,” Jem said, holding up the paper bag in her hand. “Didn’t know if you had anything in here.”

“Dani already brought me dinner,” Lisa confessed. “But…thanks. It…it’s sweet.”

Jem suddenly felt very hot, and she found that she was having a hard time looking Lisa in the eye. “It’s just, um…it’s not much,” she said quickly. “Just whatever my parents wouldn’t miss.” She’d felt a little guilty about taking blankets from Kier’s room, but she would find a time to wash them and put them back and their – her – parents would never be the wiser.

She hated herself a little for thinking that he wouldn’t miss them, either, but it was the truth.

Eventually the two of them sat down in the middle of the quarantine area, fingers threaded together again, staring up at the stars. Jem felt her gaze continuously drawn by Lisa’s warm presence next to her in the night. She was beautiful, Jem thought, and then blushed and looked away again when Lisa caught her eye.

The next time, Jem was the one who caught Lisa looking. Lisa smiled at her, bright in the darkness, and that was that.

***

Jem didn’t know what to do.

She – they – they’d kissed. A girl. She’d kissed a _girl_. _Lisa_.

That was okay, right? But memories came back, unbidden: of catching Kieren and Rick holding hands or touching each other’s faces, of Gary making snide comments about fairies – one fairy in particular – of Kieren coming home in tears because of something Bill had said…things she’d never really understood at the time and hadn’t thought about in detail since, but had still come to understand for what they were, on a subconscious sort of level.

Kier and Rick – that hadn’t been a friendship, that had been something else. Something like her and Lisa? But if Gary and Bill – if this was why Bill had always hated Kieren…

She curled in on herself, grabbed handfuls of her hair, shut her eyes. She’d liked kissing Lisa, and she wanted to do it again. But with Bill…and Gary…and everyone else, probably, Kier had always been sort of lonely and if this was why…

Did Lisa know? That was the question. Did Lisa want to keep going? Could they? Would it even be possible?

Maybe it wasn’t even real. They’d been through a bit together, and sometimes people just kiss without it meaning anything, right?

Right. That had to be it, that was all. Nothing else would happen…

***

When Jem turned sixteen, she and Lisa were still stealing kisses when no one was looking. That night in the quarantine cage had blossomed into something more, and the first time Lisa had whispered _I have the best girlfriend_ into her ear after a rough day of patrolling, Jem had felt a little thrill run through her body. They had an unspoken agreement to keep their relationship quiet, although Jem was pretty sure that at least Lisa’s parents had figured it out. They didn’t seem to mind, anyway.

Those were good days. There was hope of a cure on the horizon, people were saying, and the government had even started suggesting that the HVF try capturing rotters when possible and sending them in for testing. An end to the war looked possible, and there was an added vigor to everyone’s actions.

When Jem turned seventeen, she and Lisa kissed in the driveway, refusing to care if there was anyone else around.

Those were good days.

***

“Wait, Lisa, get some chocolate, too.” Dani winked at Jem as she said it. Lisa had rolled her eyes so hard they’d practically fallen out when Dani had announced her plan to diet, and riling her up wasn’t hard.

Except…

“Lisa?” Dani waited for another moment of static before trying again. “Lisa, can you hear me?”

Nothing. No reply.

Jem all but wrestled the walkie-talkie away from Dani. “Lisa? Lis? You there?”

“ _Jesus_ ,” she spat, shoving the talker back. “I’m going to go get her. You stay here.”


End file.
